Meet Wrecking Ball aka Hammond, Hero 28 for Overwatch, short released

There’s no doubt about the fact that many fans were eagerly awaiting the announcement of Hero 28 to be a monkey. However… We were completely wrong about what species Hammond actually is. Meet Hero 28, WreckingBall.

While speculation has been circulating that Hammond is an ape, we’ve been completely wrong about the species he would be revealed to be, and fortunately, it’s both hilarious and somewhat mind-blowing to find out that Hammond is a genius hamster with the intelligence levels similar to his buddy Winston. Just as one would expect, Hammond, aka Wrecking Ball, decided to take advantage of the gorilla uprising on Horizon Lunar Colony and escaped with his good ol’ buddy without Winston knowing.

As part of his intelligence and willing to survive, Hammond created a lucrative escape pod only to later turn it into a mech while hiding out in the Australian Outback. During his time there, Hammond turned his escape pod into a mechanized battle bot and worked his way up the ranks through the mech battle arena known as Scrapyard. As he did, his identity remained a mystery to all as he would eventually work his way through the Junker-controlled (did you notice the hidden lab in Junktown near the delivery point on the right?) only to now freely travel and do as he pleases.

Wrecking Ball will indeed be the 28th hero, but also, he’s the 6th tank in the game, making him effectively a unique character to the current roster. Much like Winston and Reinhardt, Wrecking Ball will provide disruption as a Bruiser type tank. He will be aggressive, allowing him to bully his way through an opposing teams backline of heroes, allowing him to pick of healers and snipers as he pleases. He will excel in doing so through his abilities Roll and Piledriver, which will allow him to become a serious threat against the most vulnerable of heroes such as Mercy, Moira, and Ana.

In order to damage heroes as he pleases, Wrecking Ball will be able to use his Quad Cannons on key targets, locking in on who he pleases before raining fire down upon his foes. He even has an ability to assist him in doing so, “Adaptive Shield”. This ability will allow him to become more difficult to kill as he ups his shields, allowing him to exceed his 600 damage health pool with a barrier. Much like Widowmaker, however, he’s not left completely vulnerable when his other abilities are on cooldown as he can use his Grappling Claw to quickly swing back to his team and get the healing he needs behind friendlier lines.

He can combo this ability with his ultimate, Minefield, which allows Hammond, aka Wrecking Ball, to drop a Minefield over his foes, showering them in explosive burst damage that can quickly eliminate the most vulnerable of targets only to use Piledriver to finish the most vulnerable ones off.

For those of you looking to try Hammond and his mech Wrecking Ball out, you can try him out on the PTR today and find out more by visiting his official Overwatch profile. Also, don’t forget to check out his hilarious, but cute and albeit serious trailer featuring the voice of Dr. Harold Winston down below.

About the Writer:

Dustin is our native console game reviewer who has an appetite for anything that crosses the borders from across the big pond. His interest in JRPGs, Anime, Handheld Gaming, and Pizza is insatiable. His determined mindset gives him direction, want, and a need for the hardest difficulties in games, which is fun to watch, and hilarity at its finest. You can find him over on Twitter or Facebook.